Ready or not, the Fugees are making their performances a regular occurrence. Having only sporadically reunited on stage since 1996, the group recently announced they would play a handful of concerts as part of Lauryn Hill’s 25th anniversary tour of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. The rap legend announced that she will embark on a U.S. arena tour to celebrate her solo magnum opus and will be joined by Pras and Wyclef Jean for a reunion of Fugees.
This weekend’s Global Citizen Festival was not one of their scheduled performances, yet on Saturday night, the trio took the stage to raise awareness for world hunger, blazing through their hits “Killing Me Softly,” “Ready or Not” and “Fu-Gee-La.”
This was not the first time the hip hop band surprised fans with a joint performance. In June the trio shared the stage at Philadelphia Roots Picnic for their first reunion since a one-off New York City gig in 2021, after their original 25th anniversary tour was scrapped, citing the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Fugees are expected to do ten performances together this fall, starting in Newark, NJ, on Oct. 17 and wrapping up Nov. 9 in Seattle. But with Pras Michel facing up to 20 years in prison, every stage performance is cause for celebration.
In April, Michel was found guilty of 10 charges against him — including money laundering, illegal lobbying, and campaign finance violations — for his role in a multimillion-dollar government influence campaign that involved both the Obama and Trump administrations.
As Rolling Stone reported, the charges against Michel were tied to his relationship with Malaysian financier Jho Low. Low is accused of stealing $4.5 billion from Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, and prosecutors claimed Michel pocketed millions from helping Low run foreign-influence campaigns against the U.S. government. (Low was named as a co-defendant in the case, but is currently a fugitive.)
Michel was accused of funneling money from Low to Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, as well as lobbying Donald Trump’s administration to drop an investigation into Low and extradite dissident Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui.
Michel continually maintained his innocence, telling Rolling Stone, “What benefit would I get trying to break laws? It’s not worth it to me. I’m like a pariah now. I’ve got friends who won’t talk to me because they think there’s a satellite in orbit listening to them.”
Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 25th Anniversary Tour
Sept. 8 – Minneapolis, MN @ Mystic Lake
Sept. 23 – New York, NY @ Global Citizen Festival
Oct. 1 – Gold Coast, AUS @ Promiseland Festival
Oct. 3 – Melbourne, AUS @ Rod Laver Arena (with Koffee)
Oct. 5 – Sydney, AUS @ Kudos Banks Arena (with Koffee)
Oct. 7 – Auckland, NZ @ Eden Festival
Oct. 17 – Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center (with Fugees)
Oct. 19 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays (with Fugees)
Oct. 21 – Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena (with Fugees)
Oct. 23 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Arena (with Fugees)
Oct. 26 – Toronto, ON @ Scotia (with Fugees)
Oct. 28 – Chicago, IL @ United Center (with Fugees)
Oct. 30 – Fort Worth, TX @ Dickies Arena (with Fugees)
Nov. 2 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena (with Fugees)
Nov. 5 – Los Angeles, CA @ Kia Forum (with Fugees)
Nov. 7 Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena (with Fugees)
Nov. 9 – Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena (with Fugees)